Failed-ish Rescue and Decision Making
by arinhel.melleide
Summary: 'What was this lunatic going on about' But then he saw the flash of a knife as the 'lunatic' gesticulated as he talked, waving it at her, while she shouted to get away from her. 'That's it.' - What if Gareth had lingered a little while after their talk? This is my take on that scene. Episode 1.04, a Laureth oneshot


_A/N: Yay, something else to fill the void of BrainDead until Sunday! So the first two sections of this were mostly planned, but the third just kinda demanded to be written..._

 _I do not own, nor shall I ever own CBS's_ BrainDead _, there would be a lot more of Aaron Tveit's face if I did..._

* * *

"I'm gonna leave first," Gareth said, having felt the slightly awkward tension still between them. Even if she had sort of forgiven him after he donated to her documentary, there was still something that wasn't quite right between them. Maybe it was their jobs, maybe it was the fact that they had kissed and hadn't really talked about it, or maybe it was that stupid FBI agent she took out for drinks to the same bar! He didn't know.

He turned and walked back to the far entrance, so no one would suspect anything. As he stepped in, he saw a manic-looking guy locking the other door as he stepped out. He thought it was weird, but let it go. He just made it past the lobby when he heard a short, yet somehow familiar, scream.

 _Laurel!?_ Gareth quickly made his way back. He started to hear raised voices, and sprinted the last few feet to the door. The man's back was to the door, but the blond could clearly see the anxious and slightly terrified look on Laurel's face.

"Don't you want to know whether Reverend Chambers solves the murder?!"

 _What was this lunatic going on about?_ But then he saw the flash of a knife as the 'lunatic' gesticulated as he talked, waving it at her, while she shouted to get away from her. _That's it._

"Hey!" Gareth shouted as he quickly closed the distance, putting himself between Laurel and the knife-waving-lunatic. "The lady said to leave her alone!"

"Oh God, Gareth, you just made it worse." She whispered at him. He felt offended that she thought his show of bravery made things worse somehow, but then he saw the look in Lunatic-Man's eyes.

"So you side with the republicans now, too?!" The knife was looking mighty sharp as it was pointed directly at Gareth's face.

"No, and that is enough!" She had her phone in her hand, an app already pulled up.

"What? What is that?" Crazy-man looking strangely worried about it.

"It's a rape button. It has a GPS tracker and it will alert the police to my location as soon as I press it." Gareth was impressed with how calm Laurel's voice was, but he was wondering why she hadn't pressed it already. Clearly the man was insane, not to mention armed!

"What? You don't understand! I'm a member of Men Against Rape!"

"And if you do not back off in the next ten seconds I'm going to _press it_." She grabbed Gareth's arm and started pulling him down the stairs. Lunatic-Man was still going on and on about the slash of the NEA, and how she was a traitor to the democratic party, but he didn't move to follow them.

"Laurel, what the hell was that about?!" He half-yelled, half-whispered once they had slowed to a stop in the light of a streetlamp.

"He's a constituent who came in today saying he was angry about the government, mostly republicans, but also about my brother slashing the NEA. He wanted me to be as angry as him and he was acting weird, so I told him to leave." She looked down at the sidewalk, and across the street, and anywhere but at him. That bothered Gareth for more reasons than he wanted to admit.

"So he followed you and you threatened you with a knife!?" He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. "Laurel, why didn't you call the capitol police!?"

"He actually wasn't using the knife to threaten me. It was an example for some program funded by the NEA." She rubbed the back of her neck this time, still not looking at him. He gave in to the impulse to grab her by the shoulders this time, forcing her to look at him.

"That's beside the point, Laurel! He could have hurt you." One of his hands slid up her arm without his being conscious of it—well not until it was cupping her face. He absentmindedly rubbed his thumb over her cheek, thinking about how he would feel if something had happened to her. It reminded him of the other day when Laurel had walked into his office in a half-daze, thinking he had been the one that died on Double Speak.

Why did he get so worried about her? Whenever he saw that look on her face, it was like something dropped in his stomach. He'd only known her for a few weeks, and he was already so invested in her wellbeing.

Laurel's tongue flicked out to lick her lips and Gareth's gaze dropped to follow.

It reminded him of the other thing that had happened the day his predecessor had died. It had been on his mind more often than not, at some rather inconvenient moments, too. Namely the night before, when he was with Misty…

"I did call the Capitol police, right after he left the office. Or, well, Scarlett did, but they were 'busy'!" She looked almost indignant and he snapped his gaze back up to her eyes, furrowing his brow. "And you stepping in just escalated everything!"

Gareth almost ripped his hands from away from her, but couldn't bring himself to let go of her just yet. His grip got looser for just a second, then it tightened and shifted back down to her shoulders. He couldn't decide between stepping away or pulling her closer.

"Oh, right, sorry, you have a big, strong, FBI boyfriend to take care of you. I'm just that asshole republican you sometimes work with, that you kissed and who was worried about you when he saw some guy coming at you with a knife."

0o0o0

 _Is Gareth jealous?_ Laurel wasn't really sure how she felt about that. Did she like it? Kinda, sorta, maybe…Yeah, she did. He had this cute look on his face when he was angry or pouty, which was why she enjoyed poking fun at him so much. Oh, and he had donated to her documentary, with the ten cents. She felt her heart warm at the thought of him doing that for her. And the way he always seemed to drop whatever he was doing when she showed up.

But then again, she was still kinda pissed at him. She had had the situation completely under control—well, not completely. She'd been shaking, and scared and nervous and had opened the app while her phone was still in her pocket. He had stepped in to save her, and he had been sorta heroic-looking…

That was beside the point though! Gareth had made the situation worse—though he had just been trying to help—and now he was getting all angry and jealous? While she was kinda, sorta flattered—and would totally over-analyze it later—it was still annoying.

"Anthony's got nothing to do with this, Gareth." He finally let go of her, but stayed within arm's reach.

"So, he is your boyfriend then?" He scoffed, but looked slightly hurt. Like he had any right to be hurt.

"What about you and Misty? Is that a thing now?" She knew that it was a low blow, that they had already talked about it, but she was feeling vulnerable. He turned away from her, running his fingers through his hair. Every line of his body screamed frustration.

"I already told you—you know what?" He turned back to face her, a look in his eyes that Laurel couldn't—wouldn't—identify. "Screw it." He grabbed hold of her face and kissed her.

It was so much more intense than the kiss that wasn't anything. There was no hesitation on his part this time. She pushed against him for a moment, denying the spark she felt, but he just held tighter. He wasn't forceful, just applying enough pressure, and Laurel finally gave into what she was feeling, started to kiss him back.

They kissed just outside the light of a streetlamp, some part of them still aware enough to have moved. One of his hands ended up in her hair while the other slipped down to her low back, pulling her in closer. Both of her arms were around his neck, one hand playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. Laurel felt him shiver and that made her smile against his mouth. He kept slowly walking them backwards until she was pressed up against the brick wall of a building.

Gareth pulled back first, giving her a light kiss as he did, and rested his forehead on hers. Their breath mingled in the small space between them, both chuckling lightly at first. Laurel kept her eyes closed, not ready to let go of the moment. She leaned back up to kiss him again, but he pulled away further.

"Hey."

Laurel shook her head, knowing what he was asking her. But, as soon as she opened her eyes, she would have to face the reality of what she had just done. Which was that she had just kissed Gareth—again—and while he was quite good at it—and she did really _really_ like doing it—there were so many issues with their situation.

"Look at me?" There was a pleading tone in his voice as he whispered to her.

Laurel couldn't help herself at that, she opened her eyes. The deep blue eyes in front of her held so much emotion, she actually gasped. Fear, anxiety, concern, lust, and something Laurel was too afraid to identify. She wouldn't ever admit it, but it made her a little weak in the knees. Not enough for a full buckle, but she was very glad of the support of the wall behind her.

It was too much, and she snapped.

"Weren't you the one who said 'it wasn't anything'? Then you got all jealous and weird about Anthony, while you were on your own date!" She had her hands fisted in his jacket and shoved him a little with each statement. "Then you made fun of me and my beliefs, and doing stuff behind my back for your boss! Then you donate to my documentary, give me solid intel for my brother, attempt to rescue me and then kiss me like that! It's confusing." When she finished, Laurel closed her eyes and leaned her head forward onto his shoulder.

"Well, I don't know if you like me or hate me half the time either." She felt him lean his head on hers. "I- It's just- just that every time I see you, every time that you randomly burst into my office, I want to smile and I hope that it's the former."

They stood like that for a couple minutes, just letting what they each said sink in.

"What are we doing, Gareth?" She had meant to just sound confused, but it came out more like a plea.

"Honestly?" She could _hear_ the smirk, and lifted her head to look him straight in the eye. "I think we're playing out a version of _Romeo and Juliet_."

"Ugh, I hate when people use those two for a situation like this." She groaned, throwing her head back. "They were love-struck teens who met and instantly 'fell in love'. They die at the end, for Christ's sake. It's ridiculous." The atmosphere between them had settled into their usual routine, and they were both smiling. Well, not really their usual routine; her hands were still resting on his chest and his hands had slipped down to her waist.

"Alright, so who would you compare us to?" Gareth's grin is nearly splitting his face in half. "And it's gotta be Shakespeare." A brief serious look, that instantly fell back into a grin. The man was too much of a smartass for his own good, and he was going to be the death of Laurel. She kinda, sorta loved it though. Not that she would ever admit that out loud.

"I think, _Much Ado about Nothing_. It's much more our style." She smirked at him now.

"What, Claudio and Hero?" He feigned a look of insult and confusion. She was impressed that he knew that much though.

"Not them, idiot." She lightly smacked him on the shoulder, playing along with their game. "We're more like Beatrice and Benedick than anyone else, don't you think?"

"Hmm. They appear to hate each other, and bicker and contradict each other constantly. Lies and deception are a regular feature in their lives. Then there's the law of opposites attract." He appeared thoughtful for a moment more, but Laurel recognized it as the face had he made before he kissed her at the wake.

"I guess it fits." Gareth smiled down at her, but it faltered after a moment. "Well, everything except our friends trying to get us together. If either of our friends, or family," he looks at her pointedly, "ever saw us together they would try to break us up instead of getting us together." The mood turned somber for a moment, before Laurel decided something. When had she ever cared about what her family thought, anyway?

She grabbed him by his lapels again, and pulled him down for a brief, but scorching kiss. Her hands slid up into his hair as he pulled her tighter to him with one arm, the other up in her own hair.

Pulling back to breath for just a moment, she said, "Who cares what anyone thinks?"

They both smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

0o0o0

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by catcalling hill-staffers walking past.

To both their credit, Gareth and Laurel did not leap apart like guilty lovers. However, they were both startled and instead of a passionate meeting of lips, as was intended, there was an uncoordinated smacking of foreheads. They stepped apart, reeling from the pain and cursing. The hill-staffers just laughed at them. Gareth flipped them off, which just made them laugh harder.

"What do you say we pick up this conversation tomorrow and I walk you back to your office?" He asked as he inspected her forehead. Finding a small red mark forming, he kissed it, and took a step back. His hand trailing down her arm until it reached her hand.

"I say yes to that." She kissed his cheek, laced her fingers through his, and pulled him along to the sidewalk. Laurel looked back "Oh, and the answer to your earlier question is no."

"Which question was that?"

"Anthony isn't my boyfriend. Last night was to thank him for calling my brother when I was being semi-illegally held in custody by the FBI."

"Wait, you were what?" He stopped walking and pulled her around to face him.

"It's really complicated, and I don't want to get into it right now. Can we talk about this after we have that other conversation?" Laurel looked uncomfortable, and Gareth decided to let it go for the moment. He nodded and gestured for her to lead the way again. They walked in a comfortable silence for a while, slowly gravitating closer together until they had linked arms.

"Can I ask you something, Laurel?" He slowed his pace as he spoke.

"Ask away, Gareth." She remained looking forward as she answered.

"Would you prefer me to leave you at your office, or might I be allowed to accompany you further this evening, my lady?" He may have asked in a slightly joking manner, but Gareth was fully serious with his question. He slowed down even more, wanting to spend as much time as possible with her if her answer was no.

Laurel didn't respond for a moment, and Gareth was half-expecting a negative answer, when she actually giggled. The giggles turned into full-blown laughter, to the point where the only reason she was still upright was that Gareth was holding onto her. They had stopped just outside the entrance of their building.

He was still a little worried about being seen with her like this, but who was he really kidding? He hadn't cared about being seen with her since they had talked while her brother and Red (the old Red) had been making that deal.

"It wasn't that funny, Laurel." He said through chuckles of his own. What can he say, her laughter was infectious, not to mention she snorted when she laughed and it was so adorable.

Laurel tried to take a breath to answer him, but she was still laughing too hard. "It's-" laughter, "it's cause you," peal of laughter, "you said it so perfectly, I just imagined you on a stage," giggle-snort, "in Elizabethan tights!"

"I don't think I've ever been so thoroughly insulted in my entire life." He said, as a smile formed on his face anyway. "I think I might just change my mind about wanting to accompany you the rest of the evening." Gareth turned his head away, a trying to look as haughty as possible.

"No, no, I do want you come with me." Laurel tried even harder to smother the laughter. "I'm sorry for laughing." He pretended to think about it for a moment.

"Well… Alright, fine. I'll come with you." Gareth turned back to her, triumphant smirk in place. Laurel gaped at him, realizing what had just happened.

"You made it so I asked you!" She smacked him as he outright laughed at her.

"Payback for the tights," he said as he pulled her into his arms, to which she pouted, but did not struggle. "Now, let's go inside, get our stuff and head back to your place?" He gave her a peck on the lips as he stepped back and offered her a hand.

"Yes, let's." She took it, smiling, and he couldn't help but smile back, thinking this was exactly what he wanted to be doing.

* * *

 _Hope you like it! Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Let me know :)_


End file.
